Storage dispute stalls processing of trademarks

The trademarks division of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission is struggling with a backlog that will be cleared only by the end of 2017, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has revealed.

The problem dates back to a contested contract for the offsite storage of the commission’s production files as well as hiccups in the handover of the contract from one service provider to another. None of the commission’s operational divisions was able to obtain files from storage between June 2016 and January 2017.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question, Davis said people had been waiting for up to 18 months for their trademarks to be processed.

The legal dispute arose after the commission’s contract with storage provider Metrofile came to an end in June 2016.

A new service provider (Docufile, now named Iron Mountain) was appointed for a five-year term to take over the off-site storage of all production files. However, Metrofile took the commission to court over the awarding of the tender and it was only in August that a settlement was reached through formal arbitration. This meant Docufile could begin taking over the production files only in September 2016.

“In this time period of file takeover, none of the [Companies and Intellectual Property Commission] operation divisions was able to obtain files from storage between June 2016 and January 2017.

“Hence backlogs ensued due to lack of access to the operational files,” Davies said.

“The trademarks division has been working overtime … which will see this backlog eradicated by the end of December 2017,” he said.

DA spokesman on trade and industry Dean Macpherson said he had been told by commission head Rory Voller that the organisation had had difficulty in accessing its own files, which stretched for 11km and had to be moved from one service provider to another.

It was frustrating that the commission had not kept the parliamentary committee on trade and industry informed of the problem, which came to light only after complaints were made, he said.